The English We Speak
© British Broadcasting Corporation 2012
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bbclearningenglish.com
The English We Speak
To go bananas
10 July 2012
Li:
Hi and welcome to another edition of The English We Speak. Today I'm
joined by Neil, who seems to be a bit agitated.
Neil:
Ah, sorry Li. I'm really, really excited! Actually, I haven't even got a script
for the programme! I don't need a script! I don't need anything! I'm rich
beyond my wildest dreams!
Li:
Oh, that's nice. How come that you've got rich all of a sudden?
Neil:
…a Mercedes Benz and a Porsche. And then a boat, then a yacht. A big
one!
Li:
Neil, what happened? You are going bananas!
Neil:
Bananas?! No cheap old fruit for me any more… caviar, champagne,
lobster and…
Li:
I'm not offering you bananas. You are not listening. I'm saying that you've
gone bananas!
Neil:
Sorry Li. I'm very excited because I won the lottery! You know, this week
they've got this big jackpot to offer and I got all the numbers right!
Li:
Good on you.
Neil:
'To go bananas' has nothing to do with food, as you know. It's an
expression in English we use when we are so excited that we act almost
out of control!
Li:
It is a very odd expression. We'd better let people know how it is used.
Neil:
Good idea. Let me write my shopping list while we listen to some examples
of the use of this expression that has nothing to do with the actual fruit.
Here they are:
Examples
I'm so happy that I finally got my promotion. Yesterday I went bananas! I ended up
running around the office, hugging and kissing my boss and every single co-worker! They
probably thought I was mad.
